F. J. Taylor

Palm: Who Needs iTunes? How About PalmTunes!

Pre loses a chunk of what little chance it had to become a player (let alone an "iPhone killer"). PalmTunes - what a joke! Eric, you are always good for a laugh...

The New Palm Is Gonna Bomb

hello CGP!

My bet is that he won't be eating anything. The Palm pre, while it is a big improvement in their line, is too little, too late - to paraphrase the Gretzsky / Jobs strategy, Palm and the rest are skating to where the puck was - instead of where it is going to be, as Apple does.

Meanwhile, Apple continues to grab raves and market share, because it is tied to the best OS, the biggest App store (hardly "over-hyped" with over 30,000 choices and a billion sold ), and the slickest design and marketing in the business.

The Pre will be what all the rest of the touted iPod and iPhone "killers" to date have been - copy-cat would-be clones, put out by clueless dweebs who can't or won't do the innovative design and tech that Apple has mastered. (Note that Pre's slick design was courtesy of Jon Rubinstein, the former Apple exec?)

However, I must say that the Pre and a handful of the others are steps in the right direction, and I wish them some success - pressure from competition will keep Apple honest and innovative, and should force AT&T and others to make their plans more competitive, which I, for one, would appreciate.

I can't speak for the author, but I DO have an "iBias" - for the best of reasons. I started on an IBM XT running DOS 3.0 (lo, these many years ago!), and went on through NT and 98, also learning Unix and playing with Linux and other platforms along the road. I long ago decided Apple was the most smooth-running and well-crafted, and that their hardware and software worked seamlessly (especially in the days when they still made all their own peripherals).

I taught computers, and ran a Windows LAN and a Mac LAN. When I retired, I switched completely to Apple - and then OS X came out and blew even me away! I would NEVER voluntarily go back to Windoze of any flavor (I'd sooner stick sharpened pencils in my eyes), and if it became critical to do so, the Macs now run Windows faster and better than Dell or other Windows-specific boxes. (I tested XP on one of our MacBooks against two similarly equipped laptops.)

They also have the best and most comprehensive support systems in the industry, with the option of extending the 1 year warranty through the purchase of Apple Care - a GREAT program!!

We are a totally Apple / Mac family (3 MacBooks, 1 MacBook Pro, and the iMac I write from), and 4 iPhones. My step-son is a talented computer tech / programmer, who works for a high-tech firm in San Francisco. His personal choice, after years of Windoze, was Mac. Many of my computer skilled friends are now also making that switch. (Vista helped a lot! That sold more Macs than the cute ads! Thanks, MS!)

I hold Apple stock (long), and have made more than twice what I paid for the entire lot by selling some off when it was high. I am sitting on the rest, and if it goes low again, I will certainly buy more and hold it!

Cheers!

Palm's Pre Goes a Step Further Than the iPhone

Ho-Hum! Yet another would-be "iPhone killer" - YAWN!

This device, while it has some positive features, is nothing new or different or game-changing (unlike iPhone). It is merely another wannabee "skating to where the puck is" and owes any of its virtues to Rubenstein (formerly Apple, as noted), whereas Jobs and Apple follow Gretsky's maxim of "skating to where the puck is going to be."

I wouldn't be bothered with a Palm device, even if I didn't LOVE my iPhone so much. I have had minus zero interest in them since they bought out Treo and quit developing it for Mac. I had a Tungsten for a while and was NOT impressed. I ended up giving it away.

Palm Girds for a Smartphone Comeback

Palm is passé. They lost me when they bought Handspring and immediately dropped Apple development, and they have gone downhill ever since. They also use Windows Mobile OS now (oy!) and have no redeeming features that I am aware of. They will be lucky to remain in business within a few years, let alone stage a come-back that could match, let alone beat, iPhone. They have as much chance of doing that as Zune did of killing iPod. (You DO remember Zune... ?)

(Writer has Apple stocks and is long on Apple - for a good reason - they are the superior OS and product!)

Palm’s New OS Plans and Apple Poaching

Ho-hum. Another day, another iPhone killer...

Palm is SO 90s. Apple iPhone is where it's at.

I have only been holding back until they opened the platform (done the other day with SDK), added 3G and a few other features more memory, etc., (coming this summer), and a few other aspects were addressed. I am still hoping that either they will add on some other providers than AT&T or open it up for all comers (unlikely), but after seeing my son's unit the other day, it is going to be damned hard to wait a lot longer.
This is the item I have been waiting for since Palm bought and then scuttled the Mac-compliant Treo.

Lots of businesses were doing that in the 90s - snubbing Mac. I warned them then that it would bite them in the butt, and now it has.
iPod and iTunes rule and are bringing in thousands of new Macophiles
and since Vista stinks even more than most MS dreck, and is doing an excellent job of recruiting people to Apple (thanks, Vista!), people are finally waking up to the world of easy, fun, stable and powerful computing that is Apple.

Palm is history - and good riddance.